Magic, Marauders, and Other Misdemeanors
by akmdreamer
Summary: Five important - or just humorous - moments in the lives of Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs while they're at Hogwarts. DISCLAIMER: Never will I ever. ;D
1. Meeting 1

The Marauder's Meetings:  
>Five meetings of James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew<p>

A dreary chill seeped through the closed windows of the Gryffindor common room, making the four teenagers who were still awake quite thankful for the roaring, spitting fire in the grate. James, Remus, Sirius, and Peter were all sitting up, nursing the late Saturday evening for all it was worth. It was the last day they'd be able to stay up late until next weekend, and as teenage boys, they tended to go overboard with any privilege - including late nights.

"Let's _do_ something," Sirius whined impatiently, scuffing his toe against the plush red carpeting and scowling at his friends, who were sprawled in various states of stupor throughout the otherwise-empty room.

"Technically, we're all doing something. Except for you," Remus pointed out without looking up from his book. "...Er...and James," he added as an afterthought, glancing at his friend, who was staring mournfully at the fire.

"I am doing something," James grouched.

"You're feeling sorry for yourself. If you ask me, acting sulky and moody is counterproductive. It only reinforces her idea that you're immature."

"He _is_ immature," Sirius mumbled.

"So are you, so perhaps you'd better be quiet before I decide to remind you of all the other hypocritical things you've said this week," Remus said under his breath. "Besides, this isn't about what he is. It's about what Lily _thinks_ he is. I mean, according to _James_ that's what it's about."

Peter looked at him inquiringly.

"Another failed attempt to charm Lily Evens," Sirius muttered in explanation.

"Oh," was all Peter said, his mouth still forming a silent 'o' after the word had dropped from his lips.

James' scowl deepened, but he continued to glare at the fire with a viciousness that suggested it was solely responsible for Lily's continued resolution.

"Cheer up, Prongs! Full moon's next week!" Sirius said bracingly. "That's it! Let's plan for the full moon! We raided Honeyduke's last time - what do you wanna do this time 'round?" he asked, his eyes shining.

James shrugged listlessly. Remus didn't even bother to reply: He was still quite deeply immersed in his book.

Peter suggested, "We could go to the Quidditch supply shop."

"We did that two months ago."

"...Or Durvish and Banges..."

"Three months ago."

"Or we could go to Knockturn Alley."

This provoked a reply out of James. "YES! That's the first brilliant idea you've ever had, Wormy!" he shouted.

Wormtail wasn't sure whether to laugh or be offended, so he settled for a tight grimace.

"No adult supervision...most people in bed...a whole knew alley to explore -"

"- And a shady one at that!" finished Sirius enthusiastically.

"Huh," was all Remus said to that.

"Can I go back to sleep now?" Peter asked.

"NO! We've gotta plan." At these words, everyone lost interest.

"Since when did you plan past your next meal, Padfoot?" James muttered, sinking into a half-awake stupor.

"Since now."

"Huh," said Remus again.

"What?" Sirius snapped.

"The theory of a Cheering Charm is the same as the theory of making the Unforgivable Curses effective - you must really want the effect to happen. In the case of an Unforgivable Curse, you'd really want the person to be in torturous pain, or die, or be under you're command. In the case of a Cheering Charm, you must really want the person to become happy."

Peter let out a loud snore, and Remus looked up to find two of his friends asleep, and one staring at him with a look of blank incomprehension.

"Well, _I_ thought it was interesting," he said defensively.

**A/N: Hey guys! Hope you like it...I got the idea when I was at a friends' house, and figured I the rough draft was good enough to fine-tune and upload. **

**I'll be up with a new chapter soon, and I might change the title, 'cause there doesn't seem to be much interest. I know it's definatly not the best piece I've put up, but I thought it was fairly humorous. :) I just love the Marauders...With the obvious exception of the tratorous little rodent Wormtail. **

**Hope you enjoyed, at any rate. Please review. I really want feedback, and reviews are not only helpful, but encouraging, even - _especially_ - with constructive criticism.**

**~PhoenixFlameGinny67**


	2. Meeting 2

**DISCLAIMER: I. Wish.**

**A/N: This is really quite pointless, but I wanted to do something sweet to illustrate Remus, James, and Sirius' friendship. I think James and Sirius are often portrayed as more arrogent and uncaring, but they'd do anything for their friend, as was illustrated when they became Animagi. **

Remus Lupin quivered in apprehension as Madame Pomfrey led him towards the Whomping Willow. As the sun slowly sank in the twilight sky, he could feel an uncomfortable tingling in the pit of his stomach, the beginnings of his body preparing for the change about to take place.

Madame Pomfrey patted his back in a hasty, comforting way. She had always been rather fond of the poor, quiet boy, and certainly didn't want his condition to make him an outcast.

"Now, report to me in the morning, and I'll see what I can do about any scratches or bites you may inflict upon yourslef," she said in her usual brisk manner, though kindness and pity tinged her voice.

Remus nodded, and forced a brave smile to the school Healer. "Thank you Madame Pomfrey," he choked out - he was becoming short of breath, another sign of the rapidly-approaching full moon.

Madame Pomfrey whipped out her wand and levitated a twig, prodding the knot at the base of the tempermental tree. As the branches stilled, Remus scurried into the tunnle, with a brief wave to the Healer. The willow resumed it's whomping as Madame Pomfrey removed the stick with another flick of her wrist.

"_Lumos_," he whispered, and the tip of his own wand ignited quickly. He scrambled down the tunnle, illuminated only by the restrained circle of light that haloed his wand.

In the Shrieking Shack at last, he mumbled, "_Nox_," and placed his wand carefully in a cabinate that the Marauders always used for their wands during the full moon to ensure their safety.

Then, he waited.

Fifteen minutes of highly boring Flobberworm-counting (as Muggles might count sheep) later, he felt a rush of cold flood over him, and he knew that the moon had risen full.

He grit his teeth as his body was wracked convulsivly, fighting the urge to cry out, wondering dimly where his friends were and what was taking them so long: The change was always better with his three best mates to comfort him, first as humans, then quickly changing to their Animagi forms as he became more and more wolfish.

His knees hit the floor painfully, and he gripped his hair in his fists, letting out a strangled sob when he could take it no more. As if from a great distance, he heard footsteps pounding down the passageway.

"Remus!" cried James' voice, clearly panicked at the pain of his friend, and that he hadn't been there at it's beginning.

He was just in the doorway...but so far away...so far...

"Hang on, mate," Sirius murmured, kneeling down next to Remus as James joined them, gripping Remus' shoulder.

"It's almost over...almost...in a few minutes, we'll be having fun," James added soothingly. He could be remarkably kind and sweet despite his cocky, arrogent demeanor around everyone else.

Peter appeared in the doorway, panting and sweating. Immediatly, he spun on his heal, deminishing into a small, fat rat. He'd never had much courage.

It felt as though the bones of Remus' face were being twisted, moved, lengthened...like he'd swallowed a bucket of SkeleGrow...James and Sirius were talking in low voices to him, and just their presence made him feel just a little better as fur sprouted from his pores.

"Just a bit more, Moony," Sirius said, rubbing Remus' back as he would a younger brother.

"Time to change, you reckon?" James asked Sirius, who nodded. In unison, the two twisted on their knees and morphed into a large, shaggy black dog and a stag, the impersonation of graceful power.

Just as Padfoot and Prongs appeared before him, Moony's transformation was complete.

There was no longer any trace of human thought coursing through his mind, but a savage urge to bite, scratch...take out some of his pain, his suffering, on someone else...But he _couldn't_...He _knew _he couldn't...Slowly, bits of Remus Lupin's mind were pulled in, reighning in his werewolf tendencies to a managable degree.

This was the effect his three friends had on him: They could calm him, push his true identity to take over a small part of his brain. But somewhere in his mind, he guiltily doubted that the actions of little Peter Pettigrew mattered much to his behavior on the full moon.

Still fighting the wolf in him, he threw back his head and howled in turmoil. Sirius growled softly, a gentle repremand, reminder. James prodded Remus' shoulder with his antlers in the stag's equivelent of a human's friendly punch in the arm.

It never took long to calm Remus down, though. Not now, after years. Slowly, the wolf stopped howling, his breath coming in short pants.

Another, surprisingly human thought entered his mind: However doubtful he was about Peter's comptetence and courage, he knew that Sirius and James would always..._always_...be there for him. Until the very end.

**A/N: Thanks for reading! I kind of let this story drift for a while, unsure of what to do with it, but I read the first chapter again the other day and edited some, and figured it wouldn't hurt to keep going with it. I'm quite pleased with this chapter, but you tell me what you think! Please review! I've already got the rest of the chapters worked out (at least, the plots) so it won't take long for me to write and upload them. I hope... ;) Wouldn't want to jinx myself on that one, but... :)**

**~PhoenixFlameGinny67**


	3. Meeting 3

**A/N: Third chapter! Hope it s alright, it was certainly fun to write! Enjoy, R&R! This chapter was supposed to be Beta'd but, my Beta is currently quite busy with other stories...not to mention her life. So, I just decided to put it up anyway, and if I do get the chapter back from my Beta, I'll repost it. :) Enjoy! R&R**

The manor was certainly the grandest house Remus had ever been in, let alone stayed over holiday in. Its proud iron gates twisted ornately into roaring lions, and its magnificent marble columns were more than a little intimidating.

He found himself afraid to touch anything once inside, not wanting to contaminate it with his "commonness", despite the warm welcome he'd received from Mr. and Mrs. Potter; Sirius, on the other hand, raced James down the hall, through the living room, the drawing room, and three other rooms who s purpose remained to be seen, up the stairs, and strait into James bedroom as though he too, lived there. Then, Remus reminded himself that Sirius pretty much did live there, being less than happy with his own family life, and always welcome at the Potters .

As the three boys settled into their respective rooms, two of them raucous, excited, and more than a little obnoxious, one of them shy, respectful and even more quiet than usual.

"Stop being so _polite_, Moony," Sirius had teased.

"Yeah, they'll expect it from you all the time now," James said with fake sincerity.

Remus cracked a smile at the banter, but simply said, "I wish this weren't the week of the full moon."

"Doesn't matter," James assured him quickly and bracingly. "We'll stay down in the cellar with you. It'll be fun!"

Remus gave him a bit of a harsher look than he d intended. "Actually, Prongs, I'm more worried about safety. What about your parents?"

"We can keep you under control, we always do," Sirius said cheerfully.

When James spoke, his voice was uncharacteristically serious, and held all the assurances of friendship that Remus longed for.

"Don't worry about it, Remus, trust me."

And he did.

* * *

><p>The moon rose full three days before Christmas.<p>

Remus was shaky and pale as his two friends led him down to the cellar, both grinning.

"_H-hurry_!" Remus rasped as he felt his face begin to lengthen gruesomely.

The three Marauders broke into a jog. Remus positioned himself as far away from the door as he could. Sirius transformed next to him, standing like an extremely excited guard-dog in front of him. James stayed at the top of the stairs, bolting the door, and then whipped out his wand, having been given special permission from Dumbledore to use certain spells during the full moon, and muttered, "_C__olloportus_", among other locking, reinforcing, strengthening, and generally werewolf-proofing spells.

When James was done with the precautions, he bounded down the stairs three at a time, stumbling to a halt in front of a fully-transformed Remus.

Remus gave a petrifying howl, and James spun on his heal just as the werewolf pounced.

Stag and wolf tumbled in a fierce wrestle across the stone floor, Sirius yelping in the background, trying to find an opening to get Remus under control.

The werewolf tried to get hold of James neck, but the stag kicked out, bucking its horns and front feet to keep the other animal at bay.

When Sirius was finally able to intervene, both of the others were significantly scratched up.

As Remus mind began to settle into the familiar part-wolf, part-human that his friends induced with Sirius standing guard again, James settled himself a ways away to calm down and check himself over.

He gave an odd snort of dismay as he regarded the deep gash on his foreleg and rotated his bruised shoulder as best he could in his form.

James and Sirius locked eyes, and James bowed his head in a gesture of nonchalance, as if to say, _Whatever. Not bad._

Sirius cocked his great, shaggy head in understanding, and James swore the dog smiled.

Remus, breathing steadily again and capable of enough human reasoning to be more docile, trotted over to James, stopping a few feet away and sniffing apologetically.

James stood haughtily for a moment, puffing out the muscular chest of his stag form and pretending to be seriously affronted, before trotting over to the werewolf and prodding him gently with the antlers that had earned him his nickname.

The wolf bowled him over again, this time much less savagely, and once Sirius joined it, they enjoyed a playful wrestle. They romped around boisterously, nipping at each other occasionally, and nosing into the corners of the cellar that they wouldn t have been able to reach in their human bodies.

And so it was unexpected when the werewolf raised his head and sniffed the air almost thoughtfully. He seemed to struggle with himself for a moment, then the wolf took over, and he raised his head in a wild, hungry cry that was almost a scream.

Remus scampered up the stairs in an eerily humanoid fashion and threw his full weight against the door.

With a growl, Sirius nudged himself between his crazed friend and the door, James attempting to climb the stairs but unable to in his form.

James threw a panicked look at his friends as Remus snarled and locked Sirius in a fiercely strong hold, wrenching him to the side so that the dog tumbled down the stairs, yelping in pain and colliding finally with the soft strength of James, who nuzzled the aching animal concernedly before doing something so foolhardy yet brave that Sirius gave a startled, incredulous, fearful bark.

The stag transformed, nudging his bruised friend out of the way gently and striding up the steps with a _Protego_ charm around him.

The charm was so strong that blue-white light flickered and danced around the boy like flames, but Remus, overcome with the smell of a human - so like the smell of one of James parents passing the door that had caused the charge in the first place - changed directions abruptly and rammed into the charm, attempting to get at James for the second time that night.

But suddenly, a huge black shape came hurling at them. James ducked, and the dog and werewolf collided again.

James directed his wand at the door, shouting, "_Colloportus enforces_! _Protego totalum_!" before renewing the Shield charm around himself and running down the stairs again so quickly and clumsily that he may as well have been in his Animagus form.

Changing again into said form, he bowed his head and charged right into the fight between his two best friends, pinning the wolf against the wall with his momentum.

Remus struggled, howling, but the other two boys held him fast until he went limp with exhaustion, and some of the human thought seemed to return to his brain.

The next morning, three very sweaty, scratched-up Animagi woke in the cellar of Potter Manor.

James was the first to wake, and he did so quite suddenly. Lifting his head, his eyes popped open in a second, and the hazel irises took in his surroundings, flitting around the cellar quickly as he sat up.

They were huddled together, Remus between the other two.

James saw that Remus was human once more and quickly transformed.

None of the gashes on him were too serious, and the poison of a werewolf didn t carry over from the Animagus form to the human one, as they had been given while James was a stag, and a werewolf's powers didn't affect other animals.

His chest had a few gashes across it, he realized, pealing his shirt from his torso and examining it gingerly. They weren't too bad, but would need cleaning and perhaps a healing spell from his mother.

Sirius was next, and as the dog woke, he raised his shaggy head, peering at him through deceivingly-innocent brown eyes hazed with sleep.

In another moment, James' best mate was sitting there, human and looking a bit worse for wear than James.

He was scratched and bloody in equal measure with James, but his arm was also angled oddly out from his shoulder.

"Think it's dislocated," Sirius grunted, following James example and examining his injuries.

"Want me to check it out? Or my dad could," James offered as Sirius let out a low hiss of pain when he tried to pop the shoulder back into place on his own.

"Sure, you can mate," he replied, trying to shrug then realizing that perhaps it wasn't the best idea ever.

James crawled over on his hands and knees, still too lazy to get to his feet.

They grasped each other s upper arms, and with one good pull from James and with a sickening _pop_, Sirius arm was back in place.

He rotated the shoulder, still wincing, but grinned all the same.

"Thanks. Now let's wake up this beast," Sirius joked, gesturing at Remus, who seemed to be coming 'round anyway.

As the boy woke, his two best friends faces swam into view, blurring and through the fog of exhaustion, but there nonetheless.

"Hey," he croaked, blinking tiredly and rubbing the sleep from his eyes, pushing his sandy fringe off his forehead.

"Morning, Rem!" James chirped. "Sleep well, you lazy beast?" he snickered good-naturedly.

"Think so," he said, his bemused eyes traveling over James and Sirius, the latter still nursing his arm. "What happened?" he added, catching sight of James chest and Sirius careful attention to his recently-repaired limb.

"Oh, nothing much," Sirius replied happily. "You charged Prongs here a couple of times, tried to get to the door once, and we all got quite the workout wrestling, and then the two of us pinning you to the wall..."

"Nearly took off Padfoot's arm -"

"What!" Remus choked, sitting up so fast he and Sirius bonked heads.

"Joking!" James amended quickly as Sirius rubbed his head, looking sullen at now having two sore places on his body.

"Don t joke about that stuff," Remus muttered, brushing his fingers over his own head and looking a little guilty still.

"Did I hurt either of you?" he asked after a pause.

"Don't worry bout it, Moony. No serious injuries," James assured him, because Sirius was still sulking.

"Thanks," Remus said quietly, smiling at them both.

"WHO'S HUNGRY!" Sirius roared suddenly, grinning at the two, unable to stay annoyed around his friends for too long.

James sighed.

"You're always hungry, Padfoot. I swear, my mom has her hands more full with you and your stomach than with Moony and his furry little problem."

**A/N: Well, there you go! Three chapters down, two to go, and I ve got them planned out, so they should be up soon. Thanks for reading, as always!**

**~PhoenixFlameGinny67**


	4. Meeting 4

**DISCLAIMER: This has not changed since I last posted, and it never will. I really, truly do not own Harry Potter.**

**A/N: Contrary to popular belief, I have not dropped from the face of the earth, and I AM still determined to finish this story, no matter how damn fed up with it I am getting. :) The final chapter will be up. It will. :D Enjoy!**

The grounds of Hogwarts were drawn beneath the veil of darkness as the full moon rose steadily, but still, there were five students who were not where they should have been, five students whom the withered caretaker would have loved to apprehend.

Mischief would be managed.

As Madam Pomfrey pulled open the great double doors of the proud castle, casting a regretful glance over her shoulder at the Whomping Willow, whose stray branches swayed lazily, a cool breeze brushed past her, and she thought nothing of it.

Three of the five students have just left the castle's confines.

One boy, whom is, unlike the other five, where he should be, was already out of it. He was Madam Pomfrey's charge, and the reason she looked so mournful. Remus Lupin was at that moment struggling through the first few moments of the painful transformation that befalls him at the beginning of each lunar cycle.

The three who had just escaped with Pomfrey's unknowing assistance rushed towards the temperamental tree the nurse had just left behind, painstakingly slow so as to keep the Cloak of Invisibility covering them.

"Wormy, you should transform. I'll carry you, and we can get there quicker," hissed the handsome, black-haired, bespectacled owner of the Cloak: James Potter.

Peter Pettigrew, or Wormtail as he had become known to his closest friends, twisted on his heals, careful to hold the cloak over his pudgy body. As he completed the turn, in his place crouched a rather fat gray rat. James scooped up his friend and glanced at the other boy, a tall, carelessly graceful young Gryffindor with an arrogant yet charming smile. Sirius Black was as close to James as a brother.

"Ready Padfoot?" James inquired anticipation and energy seeming to curl over his skin in tendrils of magic.

"More than, Prongs," the other replied, smirking at the thought of all the misdemeanors ahead: One more than any of his companions knew of.

Standing before the Willow, James slipped the silvery, light-as-air Cloak into his robes as Sirius lifted his wand, directed it at a stray twig, and uttered the incantation, "_Wingardium Leviosa_!" in a firm whisper.

The twig was raised into the air as Sirius directed it, the gently came to tap a thick knot in the gnarled trunk. Wormtail usually performed this task, small as he was in Animagus form, but Sirius was determined to perform for the little audience that only he knew of.

The branches stilled as though a button had been pressed, and one by one, the two boys and the rat disappeared into the passage beneath.

If only James had thought to look behind.

If only Sirius had considered the consequences before he spoke.

In the shadows of Hogwarts' turrets, just in front of the oak doors stood the last of the students who would be a part of the ensuing fiasco.

Severus Snape moved forward as soon as James and Sirius had vanished.

"Don't do it, Sev!" hissed Lily Evans, her red flames of hair swirling around her shoulders dizzying-ly as she lunged out to grab Severus' arm. "It's the full moon, and you know as well as I do - I mean...Remus...and..."

Lily bit her lip. She had never outright admitted that she knew of Remus' "condition", and wasn't intending to, yet she knew perfectly well that her words were as powerful as those that would spill from her if given Veritaserum.

"Shut up, Lily!" snapped Sev, wincing at his own harshness. But he continued, "Don't you understand? If I can get proof, they could be expelled!"

"Proof of what?" Lily countered coolly, but Sev was vicious and adamant.

Lily was close to tears as he pulled out of her grasp and headed again towards the Willow.

"Severus!"

He ignored her.

Lily's nails dug into her palm as he said, "Stay here!"

With a long sigh and many misgivings, she huddled into the comforting shadow of Hogwarts and sat down to wait.

It wouldn't be long.

Severus repeated Sirius' actions to freeze the tree's flailing branches and stumbled into the dark tunnel, lighting his wand hurriedly. Further along in the passage he could hear predecessors. A keening wail pierced straight through him, and he choked on his breath at the sudden pang of fear in his chest. Rationality began to return to him along with Lily's words of warning.

As Sev edged around the last bend, he ran smack into his nemesis.

"Snape!" cried Potter in incredulous horror. "What the bloody buggering - What are you doing down here?"

"I could ask you the same, Potter," Snape sneered through his anxiousness.

"I'm prepared, as are my friends. And you, Snivellus, are not. Get out of here, before -"

As James cut himself off, Snape pushed his way past the other teen in a rush of fury.

It was at that moment that two others tumbled into the passage, a large, shaggy, black dog and a scrawny gray wolf, lanky with a thin tail and a long snout, the whites of its eyes rolling up into its head as it howled in feverish blood-lust.

With a clumsy twist of his heal, James was no longer behind Snape, but a figure of contained power, a lean, graceful stag that loped past Severus and barreled into the other two, pushing Remus back a few paces as Snape backed away, slowly at first, then taking off at a flat-out sprint up the rocky passageway, stumbling and grasping at anything that he could hold.

A stream of curses spilled from Severus' mouth as he emerged into the light of the full moon to be met by Lily.

"He - he -"

"Are you okay? Sev, what happened? He didn't hurt you? What happened?"

Her questions came rapid-fire, and Severus choked on the answers.

A figure dove out of the passage, spitting furious expletives.

"What the bloody hell did you think you were doing, Snape? You can't handle everything, you arrogant git! You knew - I _know _you knew about Remus' illness! I don't know how you figured out how to get past the Willow, but why?"

As James slowed, he registered Lily's presence.

"And you, Evans! Rem told me he told you. How could you let him?" James spat at her, his cheeks tinged with anger.

"Don't start on her, you have no right -"

"Belt up, Snivellus," James snarled. "You don't seem to understand that you almost got yourself killed -"

"_Black _almost got me killed, you bloody toe-rag!" Sev bellowed. This froze James.

"_What_?"

"Oh, don't you, Potter! You were probably in on it too!" he cried.

"Sirius - he -" stammered James, his eyes blazing. "I'll deal with him. But still...you knew. What were you hoping to accomplish, Severus, tell me that? Was getting dirt on us really that important to you?"

Severus was left gaping to be dragged away by an irate Lily as James turned and staggered back into the passage.

As he did so, the other boy was left to edit the events into those easier to process.

_It's their fault. _

And for him, that would never change.


	5. Meeting 5

**DISCLAIMER: No different then the last hundred disclaimers I've given: I don't own Harry Potter. It belongs to J.K. Rowling. I don't claim any rights, no copyright infringement is intended, and I am making no money off of this - I'm simply doing it for fun. **

**A/N: FINALLY! I am thoroughly SICK of this story, but I promised you lot five chapters...and five chapters it is! I hope you enjoy! **

**~Ari**

Lily didn't allow herself to think of The Incident for several days. Fresh in her mind, none of it added up with her previous conceptions and reality. The Gryffindor Head Girl pushed herself deeper into her classes and homework for the next week, avoiding both the Marauders and Sev.

Come the end of the week, she was exhausted and tired of refusing to sort out her thoughts about what had happened on the last full moon. Lily dropped her schoolbag off in her dormitory on Friday afternoon and then melted into the blessedly empty corridors.

Wandering around alone in the drafty old castle infused to the very core with magic was something she'd been doing for years. No one knew every nook and cranny, and that was exciting, frightening and full of adventure for Lily. She wasn't fully aware of where she was headed until she found herself standing before a beautiful old weaving of a young black-haired girl of, perhaps, sixteen, wearing a white tunic trimmed in gold, and brown leggings, a sheath of leather strapped to her waist. She was curled against a redwood tree, carving the initials of her dead love into the trunk, tears frozen forever in her lovely blue eyes, unable to fall.

"Amala," Lily addressed her.

"Tiger," Amala, acknowledged with a small, sad smile. "You have many emotions right now. Your thoughts are in turmoil." It was a statement - Amala never questioned. She only answered.

"May I enter?" Lily asked, knowing only the pure in both heart and body were granted access.

Amala inspected her handiwork. Over the hundreds of years that she had been there, her carving had expanded, the rough trunk of the tree now adorned with smooth lines and graceful curves extending from the letters in the middle. None of the lines were hasty, but deep and slow and mellow, carefully crafted from the girl's grief.

Amala ran a finger over the newest embellishment and met Lily's eyes.

"You may," she said softly, and the weaving rippled to reveal a passage lit by soft globes of light, the source of which simply another mystery of Hogwarts and her ways.

Lily entered the hall she knew well, the stones glossy and white, threaded with veins of pale pink. The end of the passage opened into a circular room dotted with a patchwork of windows. Lily climbed onto the sill of one and found herself looking out upon the Quidditch Pitch.

_At least I can't see the Whomping Willow_, she thought caustically.

Which brought her to the reason for her confusion and her turmoil, as Bianca had put it.

James Potter was supposed to be an arrogant toe-rag. Not someone who saved his nemesis' life and became an unregistered Animagus for his friend. He was supposed to be full of himself, he was supposed to have played the dangerous prank, not saved Severus from it.

And yet, perhaps Lily was jaded. Perhaps she'd allowed herself to see only the James Potter who Snape saw, the one who taunted his nemesis...just as his nemesis taunted him.

Sure, he was immature about it, and he had done some horrible things, but at least he was trying.

That was more than she could say for Sev.

So where did she go from that realization? Was it worth risking her pride for a friendship with someone who continually insulted her best friend? Who she wasn't even sure she wanted to be friends with?

_No,_ she thought. _But it is worth it for someone who saved my best friend's life, even when they hate each other. For someone who would do something dangerous and illegal for his best mate because he doesn't want him to suffer alone._

_Someone who would do all that is worth my pride._

**A/N: Yes, it's short. But I couldn't end it any other way. Sorry. Hope it wasn't horrible. AND I AM POSTING CHAPTER ONE OF **_**Smile, Harry!**_**, SO LOOK FOR IT ON MY PROFILE! :)**

**~Ari**


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